Sunday, June 11, 2017

If you have a kiln, then you probably have glaze...and you are more than likely well aware of how freakishly expensive glaze is. I swear, it eats about a quarter of my budget. But I just can't give the stuff up: glaze really does give my students the ultimate ceramic experience. So today, I thought I'd share my very favorite glaze brand as well as how I distribute glaze and conserve it...so that I don't waste a single precious (read: pricey!) drop. Here you go:

My dog dishes, ice cube trays and just about everything else were purchased at the Dollar Tree. I love the Dollar Tree, y'all. If I could marry it, I totally would. Cassie Lane Dollar Tree. Has a nice ring to it, no?

Once our glazing days were done, I tossed the press and seal I was using to keep the glaze fresh and let them dry out. Just a crack of the tray works to pop them out. Then put them in the glaze bottles, add water and shake. Clean trays + conserved glaze = happy art teacher!

This is a messy task...and one that you will only want to do once. So get all your glaze bottles and trays out and knock it out in one fell swoop.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Hey, y'all! I'm sad to say that last Wednesday was our last #creatingwithcassie Facebook LIVE craft night for felting. I chatted about Fashion Felting and will share a blog post about that super soon (I'm a pinch behind...as per usual). The previous week, we ventured into Sculptural Felting and I shared the basics on how to needle felt little creations...while creating this penguin whom I've named Pepe le Paint...or something. Here's the video from our live creating session:

I've done a ton of needle felting but I've never taken it to the third dimension. Sue sent me a bunch of samples to share with y'all to serve as both ideas and examples of what can be created by needle felting.

Sue created the cardinal, the penguin and the cat. I'm currently working on a ton of felted cacti which I'll share with you real soon (if you follow me here, you can catch some one-minute how-to videos). By the way, Sue has a great YouTube channel with a ton of felting videos. Check it out here!

Now, I mentioned that this past Wednesday was our last craft night for felting. For the month of May, we are moving on to CLAY! We'll spend the first half of our craft nights as we used to do: sharing tips and tricks. So come prepared to talk shop about clay, both kiln and no kiln fire. Then...we'll create! You can use ANY clay you have on hand or you can purchase your clay kit right here. You can also find out more details on what we'll be up to right here.

Now, let's check out this gallery of awesome folks who have been felting along with me. Seeing the work of other folks has really made this experience the best for me...it's one thing to share your love of a craft with someone via a blog post or a video. But it's entirely something else to create live along with people...and see what variety of creatives there are out there. THANK YOU AND HUGS to everyone who participated either live or after the fact, shared their creations and their enthusiasm. Y'all are the best.

And a BIG shout out to Sue at Back to Back Fiber for helping to make this possible. She's still selling felting kits if you are interested!

I love two things: the color pink and otters. So when I saw Chapin's @chapin.schnick creation, I was so excited. The cuteness!

Rachel's @mrsp_art penguin with it's little waving flipper is so fun. What a great idea!

This rainbow bird by @echopaitsel looks so cute on display in this Easter grass.

Y'all. Heather's felting game is STRONG. I think this would be a fabulous project for kids!

BB8 for the win, kids! How is this our first Star Wars felted creation? Ima need more where this came from. Megan @mrs.dunstan you get a slow clap and a hats off from me, sister!

Amber @amberakes created the next two felted pieces. I really love how she blends the roving. It gives her pieces a painterly effect.

I could see this on the back of a clutch, couldn't you? So pretty.

Stay tuned for one more needle felting wrap up from our craft nights. If you'd like to be featured here, just use #creatingwithcassie on your preferred social media outlet. Now, go stab something, y'all!

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Hey, art teacherin' buds! If you joined last week's Facebook LIVE which is archived in the link, then you know I did a feeble attempt at a Make and Take. Those who joined were gentle and kind enough to almost convince me that it wasn't a bust but I knew the truth. I LOVED the idea of a Make and Take and I really wanna make it work in the future...but that will take some work on my part. But let's focus on what we created: Art Teachers Badges!

In a previous LIVE chat, which we do right here nearly every Wednesday night at 8pm CST (to join the chat, simply "like" my page and I'll pop up in your feed 8-ish), the idea of creating "art teacher apprentice" badges came up. I loved the idea so much, I invited everyone to join in on the makin' and the takin'. What EXACTLY is an Art Teacher Badge?!

I can only tell you how I plan to use mine: I have four tables in my art room. Each table will have what I've dubbed Art Teacher in Training. These kids are responsible for listening extra carefully to directions and answering the questions of their fellow artists at their table only. If they cannot answer the question, they are to seek out another table's "trainee" and ask them. If all else fails, FINE, you can ask me. My goal is to create an environment where I am free to spend more quality time with my students and not repeat myself 5983 times. Ahem.

How will I pick these kids? I plan to let them know that the moment they walk in my door, they are being "interviewed" based on their actions, behaviors and ability to follow our long-established but sometimes forgotten routines. I also created this video to explain to the kids just EXACTLY what the roll of the "trainee" and the rest of the class is.

Feel free to share this video in your Land of Art Teacherin'. It's general enough that it could probably work in your setting as well. MANY of the fine folks that joined the chat sent me their badges and how they plan to use them. I love the creativity of seeing what everyone created and hearing how they plan to use them. I do plan to laminate mine and have them on a lanyard. By the way, be sure to follow these art teachers on Instagram. I've added their link if they have an account. We learn so much from one another!

Margaret McDonald created these fun badges for her kiddos! She says: I teach Art PreK-6 at Herndon Elementary in Herndon, Virginia. My classes come once a week. I have 6 tables. Each week a different table does art room jobs. I plan to allow each weeks table to be the "art room assistants." I plan to talk them up like VIP/backstage passes since I used gold shiny paper! You can find Margaret here: My instagram @missbrightbluehue and My Twitter @msmcdonaldart

Darla Kendrick created these cute and colorful badges. She says: here are my Art Teacher assistant badges. I get tired of repeating my directions non-stop, even when they're written on the board! My plan is to assign one student per group/row/area of the classroom as the Assistant. S/he will be responsible for helping students nearby until I can make my way to them. Hopefully this will eliminate the repetitive, "I wasn't listening" questions.

Carissa Parr shared: my class is 3rd-5th grade, so I'm planning on using the Protégé badge with only the 5th graders. They'll be the go-to kids for the younger ones. The Timekeeper will help keep ME on track! The Encourager will help keep things positive, as there are a few kids that compare their work to others and end up frustrated. I teach in a homeschool co-op and we meet once a week, so most of the lessons take two weeks to finish. The kids will keep their badges for 2 weeks and change/rotate badges at the start of a new lesson.

Amber Click says: I have created my badges, just need to laminate and get lanyards. :) I decided to go with art teacher's sidekick. Kinda like a superhero. :) I teach in Corpus Christi, Texas. Grades Pre-k through 8th grade. I plan to use these badges to cut down on the amount of times I repeat things, like "drying rack." lol I think especially for my younger kids they will love the assistant title and I hope it'll turn out to make them feel special.

Emily Burlingame says: I have 4 tables in my room and each has a rotating (weekly) job to do. One of the jobs was 'Direction Experts' (DE's). This one always seemed to get neglected... until NOW!

We went over all the jobs again and I introduced the new 'DE' badges and a reminder that this job was to be my helpers. They had to know what the directions for the day were, had to know where to get supplies and how to clean up, had to know how to be encouraging and helpful. They basically had to be mini versions of me.

They embraced it with open arms today and knocked it out of the park. Even my 3rd grade 'Bob' rocked it {this is code name for our friends who are sometimes off-task}. Told me he served 6 clients for the day! Ha! Great. And it totally freed me up to wander the room and help where needed.

So each week a different table group of students will have their own chance to help one another out!!! Yessss! Art Teacher win. Think I'll try it with my 1st-5th graders and just put the badges in the table basket that has the DE job for that day.

Emilie Jones says, I used lanyards, painted the paintbrushes with acrylic paint, and used scrapbook paper inside the badge-holder-thingy... they all have the words: TABLE LEADER in sticker letters (former scrapbooker in the house!).

I am NOT an art teacher, I'm just a parent who LOVES art, was upset that the school my son goes to does not offer art (even though the kids have LOTS of free time) so I volunteer and every Wednesday and Thursday. I go to my son's second grade class and we do art.

These second graders REALLY need to work on their listening skills and I ❤ed your ideas about going to the art assistant to ask for directions because i was being asked the same question like 15 times (which gets a bit annoying). I have 23 kiddos and 4 tables, so one leader per table. Today I hyped up the table leader's responsibilities and then hit up Hobby Lobby (I currently live in no-where Oklahoma and it was either that or Walmart) got the lanyards, badge holders, and brushes.

Alexandra McBride says: here are the art expert badges I've been using since before winter break. Kiddos are LOVIN being experts! I usually pick six different kids before I start any explaining and these kids are then who all the other kids go to if they have questions. They are feeling so proud wearing them! The best part?! When I get done with directions and that one kid is like "what do I do!?" Ahhh I just breathe and say "Go find an art expert"! You can find me on Instagram @kidsgetcreative. I work at the elementary level at cherry creek schools in Colorado!

Carol Sustaire says: I want have one badge for each of my 6 color coded tables. However I probably won't use all 6 every day. Maybe only 3 per class and they wear the badge that corresponds to their tables.

I teach k-6 in Fort Worth TX. I introduce a lot of new ideas to these kids so I am probably going to let the kids that "catch on" first at each table get picked to be the art teacher apprentice. I may also pick based on who I think needs a boost of pride that day.

Lindsay Lowery says: I've never done this before but it sounds like fun! I decided to keep them simple using my #artsnacks products I get in the mail each month. I plan to pick someone from each table as soon as I finish giving directions and hopefully it will be something they really enjoy. My instagram is @beakerlinz and I teach in Pflugerville, Texas K-5.

Do y'all use something like this in your art rooms? LOVE to hear how you put it into action!

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Let's face it, we can't always be "on" for each and every kiddo and each and every art class. And that's okay. It's perfectly fine to every now and then be the World's Okayest Art Teacher.

The key is to realize that being an "okay" art teacher is only okay if it's temporary. You can only scoot by at level 3 for so long before you and the kids start to lose interest. That's when you gotta punch that art teacherin' energy level back up to a 10 (okay, let's be honest, a 8.25 will do).

In all seriousness, if you are feeling meh, try not to beat yourself up over it. Just the fact that you are aware of it means you care. If you are experiencing guilt-free meh, then, yeah, you might wanna hang up the apron and call it a day. I remember I used to come home and tell my husband that I felt like I wasn't doing my best, that I was doing a disservice to the art education of my students. He said that even on my worst days, what those kids are getting is better than no art at all.

So on those days that you are feeling just okay, you might wanna focus on accentuating the positive at both the beginning and end of your art classes. Like I said in the video, I start each class with that little "Hello, my most amazing artists!" call and response. I also love ending it with a little "I love you" send off. It helps to bookend my classes on a happy note even if what happened during our art time was just okay. Listening to this song, a fave of mine, always lifts me outta my okayest funk. Because you ARE awesome, bringing creativity and light to your students!

I hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Know that I think you are much better than Okay, but seriously The Best.